Every year I have the extreme pleasure of being able to attend the spring Horrorhound Weekend event in Indy, well this year I was lucky enough to be able to attend the fall event held in Cincinnati and I have to say that this is THE BIGGEST and THE BEST horror convention you’ll ever attend in the midwest.
The guest list is always tops and this event was no different. With names like Malcolm McDowell, Julian Sands, Linda Blair, Jeffrey Combs, Meg Foster, Bill Moseley, etc. there is no way there would not be at least one person you would want to meet.
On top of the regular awesome vendor rooms, film screenings, and panels, they always try to have some other event going as well like the Mast Fest. This time around they had a Ghostbusters museum full of stuff from the films, other merchandise and even a couple actors from the film were there to sign stuff and talk about their experiences.
The vendor area seems to get bigger every year. This time around it was probably the biggest I’ve ever seen and if was full of new vendors that usually aren’t at the other events. I don’t know if that was because it was in a different state or just because the con is growing so much, this was the first Ohio event for Horrorhound that I’ve attended. It was great because I got to meet up with a bunch of vendor and artist friends of mine who live in different states. Even walking through the halls from one room to another you couldn’t help but run into a table with some sort of vendor, artist, musician, film maker etc.
To me, these are the things I like about cons. The cons where the halls are empty and they one or two rooms of stuff going on are just not worth going to. There is usually so much stuff going on that always wind up missing some of the things I wanted to go to. I always make sure to catch all the panels that I can though, these are the highlight of the cons for me.
This event they had a Halloween 4 and a Re-Animator panel. I made sure to check both of these out as they had excellent guests from both films. Kathleen Kinmont was there and appeared at both panels.
Not too much new stuff to report on the panels as they were mainly about past experiences and films. All the actors had some great stories though and they’re usually stuff that you’ll never hear in any of the documentaries out there. The Re-Animator panel was one of the best panels I’ve ever attneded, the stories and jokes were great. The chemistry that those people have together is amazing. One of the only funnier that I’ve ever sat through would be a Day Of The Dead panel. Joe Pilato and Gary Klar are a riot.
They have tons of great film showings and screenings all weekend long but the best for me was a showing of Maniac with and Q&A with director William Lustig after the film. It was cool because he was the only one there and it was in a smaller room so it felt more like a one on one than a panel.
The event parties after the show on Saturday night are always fun and are usually a musician or something in one of the ballrooms at the hotel, but this year the Saturday event party was held at the CoCo Key’s Water Resort in the hotel. I didn’t attend the Saturday night after party this year but from what I heard from everyone else the next day it sounded like a blast.
Another thing about the Horrorhound Weekend events that I like, the staff is always great both from Horrorhound and the hotel. I’ve been to other cons, which shall remain nameless, where the staff has been ignorant and the hotel has just seemed like they really don’t want you or the event there. I’ve heard horror stories from vendor and guest friends about how badly they were treated etc. but never once have I heard someone complain about Horrorhound. That should be a plus to some of you out there that have been contemplating getting a table at the con. I know it does for me because I keep talking about getting a table at one of the events. I’m not sure if I want to though because I like being able to walk around and interact with everyone during the weekend.
In conclusion I feel this is one of the best, if not THE best, horror convention you can attend. I’m not saying all the other events out there are bad, because there a ton of great horror events out there, I’m just saying that personally I feel this is one of the best ones and if you can’t attend them all make sure to check out Horrorhound Weekend at least once. You won’t regret it.
For more information on past and upcoming events visit the official Horrorhound Weekend website, and their official Facebook Page.